When Airplane was released in 1980, with its small budget and first time directing team, the studio was concerned it wouldn't have mass appeal. A parody of old disaster films, it embraced absurdity completely and was so surreal that the people behind it worried that it'd never find its audience. These days, it's known as one of the funniest films ever released, winning multiple awards, earning fame and fortune for the creators and relaunching Leslie Nielsen's career as a comedian, after years in dramatic roles. It also stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the greatest Los Angeles Laker of all time (don't bother, Kobe Stans). He plays himself in a world in which he leads a secret double-life as a commercial co-pilot called Roger Murdock. He spends a lot of the film relegated to a quiet, barely acknowledged presence in the cockpit and many of the NBA actors who came after him could've learned a lot from his "less is more" approach (though a "less is more" Shaq wouldn't be Shaq at all). It helped that in 1980, Abdul-Jabbar had the bearded good looks to convincingly pass as a rugged pilot. When he was called on to do broader comedy, such as in the famous "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" scene, he executed perfectly. The role proved so popular that he reprised it in 2014 for a Wisconsin tourism ad and 34 years later he could still pull it off. Airplane marks the first time an NBA star played a major role in a movie and you can probably partly credit (or blame) Abdul-Jabbar's success for all the nonsense that came afterwards. With the current crop of players mostly untested in Hollywood, it seems certain that some wonderfully terrible film roles are just around the corner. Just don't make Eddie 2. Knicks fans have suffered enough.
Brydie is an Australian writer and performer living in London and she complains exactly the same amount about the weather as every other Australian living in London. Yes, that is her natural lip colour, no, she will not be taking any further questions at this time.
